China also cyber-spying on Russia --- and Moscow doesn't know it

President Obama is being urged to get Russian President Vladimir Putin to help shut down Chinese cyber-spying.

China's cyber-spying of American government offices, defense contractors and major businesses, a topic of President Obama's recent meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, isn't just a U.S. crisis.

Beijing is also snooping on Russian computers and President Vladimir Putin's team might not know about it, according to CrowdStrike, the California-based outfit used by U.S. firms to block computer attacks.

CrowdStrike cofounder Dmitri Alperovitch said that his firm has charted an "incredible" assault by Chinese hackers on Russian targets over the last 18 months, including Moscow's defense ministry and arms contractors.

"It's not clear to me that the Russians are fully aware of this," said Alperovitch.

But, he added, that's a good thing for Washington. Alperovitch is urging the administration to tell Moscow about the attacks in hopes Putin will join Obama in pressuring Xi to curb the cyber-war.